DUMAGUETE CITY – Pryde Henry Teves voluntarily relinquished his post as governor of Negros Oriental shortly before 5 p.m. Tuesday after days of being locked in a “battle” over the governorship with duly elected Gov. Roel Degamo.
Teves spoke in front of a large crowd of supporters gathered at the front grounds of the capitol as he thanked them, saying “it is not yet over.”
He expressed disappointment that the High Tribunal did not act on a petition for a temporary restraining order (TRO) to prevent the implementation of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) en banc ruling nullifying his election victory in favor of Degamo.
The former governor, whose victory in the May 9 polls was overturned following the transfer of votes of nuisance candidate Ruel Degamo to Roel Degamo, had insisted on staying on at the capitol in the past days.
This, even as Department of the Interior and Local Government Secretary Benjamin Abalos Jr. ordered Regional Director Leocadio Trovela and Provincial Director Farah Gentuya to install Degamo as governor, pursuant to the Comelec en banc’s writ of execution.
Lawyer Ferdinand Topacio, one of the legal counsels of Teves, previously said his client was not a party to the Degamo versus Degamo disqualification case and thus should not be made to suffer from the resolution of the said case.
Teves left the capitol with his wife, lawyers, and members of his administration with a convoy of cars waiting for them.
In a statement, the SC said it took up two petitions in the Teves-Degamo case but confirmed there was no action yet on the TRO sought on the declaration of Ruel Degamo as a nuisance candidate and the order to count his votes in favor of Roel Degamo.
The SC said the application for a temporary restraining order in the petitions was also taken up during the deliberations on Tuesday and the court took no action.
The court granted the motion filed by the Office of the Solicitor General for additional time to file a consolidated comment for the poll body, which had been named co-respondent of Roel Degamo.
After the final recount, Degamo got 331,726 votes, including those transferred from Ruel Degamo, while Teves had 301,319.
Meanwhile, police personnel immediately buckled down to work to do a paneling and security inspection of the capitol before Degamo reports to his office.
It was not immediately known when Degamo will take up office at the capitol. For the past few days, he held a temporary office at the Sidlakang Negros Village. (PNA)
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